ALBUQUERQUE – County officials in New Mexico have changed some of their internal procedures after acknowledging that Bernalillo County lost about $447,000 as a result of an online scam.
Scammers targeted one of the 1,472 registered vendors listed on the county website’s transparency portal, the Albuquerque Journal reported Wednesday.
The county expects to maintain transparency by keeping contracts visible, but a list of vendor names has been removed from the site, officials said.
The scammers were able to setup a fraudulent bank account in Texas, submit a payment change for one of the vendors and submit fake documents with the vendor’s name before the county began submitting payments, county officials said.
The scam was discovered after the vendor contacted the county “because they weren’t receiving their checks and they wanted to know why,” county spokesman Tom Thorpe said.
The procedural changes require vendors to contact the county directly for changes to their profiles, Thorpe said.
A more stringent transaction verification process has also been instituted, and county employees have received training on identifying fraudulent transactions, emails and other documents, he said.
The Risk Management Department is currently working with the county’s insurance carrier to recoup the loss, Thorpe said.
